Definition And Classification Draft Media Essay

Just one generation ago, internet was only accessible to scientists and researchers. However, Nowadays Facebook is accessible to everyone from toddlers to pensioners whenever they want. Furthermore, there are more Facebook users than automobiles in America (Pring, 2012). Considering numerous social media users engaged in or even stick to social media every day, we can’t help wondering whether or not they have already been addicted to social media and what social media addiction is. Unfortunately, the virus of social media addiction spread rather swift among youngsters, and once injected, it’s even harder to resist than cigarettes and alcohol (Meikle, 2012).In order to handle this problem, I will provide a precise definition of social media addiction and specify some basic types of it in the following contents. According to Walker (2012), social media addiction is defined as a phrase when someone spending so excessive time on social media that it interferes the other aspects of his daily life. And judged on diverse platforms they use, their habits and symptoms, social media addiction is classified into distinctive categories: Twitter lovers post whatever seems new to him, whether it is valuable or not; blog addicts try to response to every single question from readers and become frustrated if no questions are asked from fans; Facebook likers mostly communicate on virtual platform while they are unwilling to share news with others in reality (Marketo, 2012). Although there is distinctive difference among them, one point is similar: linking with social media accounts regardless of the time and it has inference his normal life. Concerning the situation where social media addiction is rather tough to resist, in the following paragraphs I’ll offer some comments for addicts and tips on how to treat the “disease”.

Comparison and contrast—-The difference between addict users and normal users.

Indeed, social media addiction is rather a newly discovered phenomenon since even Facebook came into existence to the public in 2004 (Carlson, 2010). However, since then there has been a steady inclination of social media addiction cases, there is no excuse for us not to recognize social media addicts explicitly. Therefore, in the following contents I’ll contrast addict users with ordinary ones and deduce some particular traits. Compared with ordinary people, certain behavioral traits of social media addiction occur on them. First, unlike common people, they are more likely to be involved in virtual society activities, putting social network ahead of family and friends and regard it more fundamental than life basics such as studying, eating and sleeping. Gradually they become monks who, like many other addiction sufferers, resent anything around them and isolate from regular life and rely solely on social networking simultaneously. In addition to behavioral obstacles, they also suffer from psychological issues. Addicts can be panic, irritated and anxious even if they leave computers for daily tasks and treatments. In contrast, ordinary guys are able to maintain regular and basic socialization routines. Mental obstacle traits also include socially insecure and preferring communicating via virtual chatting than face- to-face (Anderson, 2012). As for micro scale, addicts are always struggling to tally to self-congratulatory status, updating their news about private life. They are relatively competitive but vulnerable compared with us when they compete with successful peers but only to find their life is rather plain. However, as ordinary people, these aspects are rarely noticed and concerned.

Since it’s extremely easy to get lost in universe of social media, it is one’s high priority to possess self-control. Therefore following 4 simple steps can aid those who addict to social media to get rid of addiction and return to ordinary life. At first stage, avoid or ignore requests and irrelevant recommend websites from unfamiliar sources. There is no need to accept every single request and get involved in valueless. After all, on average Facebook users will own 7 friends every month (Sanders, 2012). Hence we don’t need those annoying extra requests. Once accepting too many requests, absolutely we will get into traps in the infinite universe of social networking. At second step, announce to our friends about our determination and decision, and let them supervise our behaviors. Why do we remain connected to Internet if we no longer need social media all the time? Disable network connection, stay offline for a while and tell our friends publicly. Why do we have to check Facebook and Twitter from time to time, and what if we refuse to check them regularly? Apparently, nothing severe will occur. Please don’t hesitate to do so, for it will provide access to concentrate on work and study more. At first it might be tough to overcome some obstacles both mentally and physically. However, with the support from girlfriend/boyfriend, sibling, close friend, parent and classmate, the tendency to waste time on social media will decline by keep reminding us of how much time we have wasted. Furthermore, chatting with them will obviously enhance the relationship. At last stage, allocate time to other activities and go offline. We’ll be astonished to have a whale of time free for our private business. Moreover, our routine has returned to daily basis. Remember: we care because there are other things more important than Facebook in life (Syed, 2012).

How to spend time on social media?

As engaging in and being addicted to social media much faster and easier, students tend to spend more time on social media. However, as students, our principal aim is to achieve better academic performance rather than be a professional Facebook user. Considering that it’s easy to lose track of time while chatting online and that obviously some certain social networking sites can be addictive, sticky and hard to get rid of, I’ll explain some strategies on how to distribute time on network intelligently. The most important strategy is to develop a routine while using social media. Having a regular task list is of vital importance to undergraduates not only in study but also in recreation. Follow the routine strictly and we will find it no longer unimaginable to reduce useless waste on social networking. There are some cute tools that can track how much time we spend on social media, and monitor our engagement on network. Throughout scheduling, analyzing and monitoring, they can ensure us to spend time more efficiently. Another strategy is to avoid over thinking about the content when coming up with a post. The more we think about it, the more time we will waste, and the more original ideas will diminish. After all, entertainment is not equal to study. The key to manage our time on social media is quality of interacting and keeping balance between study and socialization. Although it’s vital to build and maintain relationships with our friends and families, keeping balance and spend time properly still comes first. After all, there is no more time to waste when confronting with heavy workloads.

Till Sep 2012, the number of Facebook users has reached up to 1.01 billion (Frank, 2012). However, according to a new study, plenty of students addict to social media and it’s hard for them to abstain from social networking for one full day (Finnegan, 2010). Given that they have obsessive usage of Social Medias and these behaviors imply addiction, I’ll illustrate some effects of it in the following contents. The most direct effect of engagement in social media is becoming isolated and passive to life. As they overuse time and energy on virtual society, passionate towards realistic life declines gradually. Finally, instead of being brought closer to family and friends, they feel hurt and neglected, with ruined relationships. Moreover, because of the continuous flow of distraction from wired world, concentration on study and life will be lost. According to a recent study, on average Facebook users spend less time on study and consequently meet lower grades than others particularly because of engaging on virtual communities simultaneously (Kush& Griffiths, 2011). One dominant factor that contributes to this problem is that users don’t maintain a rational social media usage schedule and don’t have an explicit purpose for using. Moreover, addiction to social media also has a potentially negative threat to health. In order not to miss any news, the addicted users prefer to neglect sleep occasionally. However, they will deprive their sleep as a result of the bad habit, and at last, energy levels will decline and emotion will be far more irritable, short-temper or even depressed. Considering that addiction to social media has so many severe adverse impacts, we mustn’t hesitate to take actions to cope with it. Therefore, in the following paragraph I’ll explain how to distribute time on social media.